desperately need help! at my absolute wit's end.

[dreamcity]

help!
i recently adopted a cat who turned out to be pregnant by . i noticed she started acting pretty aggressive and ravenous but that was excusable due to pregnancy. the kittens are now 8 weeks old and she is WORSE than when she was pregnant. i can no longer keep garbage of ANY kind in the house. i cant open the fridge without her jumping into it. she has even found the non perishable foods in the cupboard such as pasta and seaweed and has started eating those. she has kept me up every night for the last month due to picking apart the garbage. she has even gone so far as to eating plastic. i feel like ive tried everything. ignoring, spraying her with a water bottle, saying a firm no, looking her in the eyes and saying no, hissing, everything!
im fairly certain she had a pretty bad childhood and was possibly starved fairly often. shes most likely not much older than a year. im convinced she knows what she is doing is wrong but chooses to do it anyway.
is this continued hormones? or a negative imprint due to her childhood?
im willing to try ANYTHING.
i cant live like this. i dread coming home.

 

[strange_wings]

Have you ever taken her to the vet? What has she been eating when she was pregnant and nursing?

This is not a behavioral issue. She sounds like she's not getting enough nutrients.

 

[cheylink]

Are the kittens completely weaned yet? If not, at 8 weeks they should be eating solids and separated from the mother.
Have you had her spayed yet? Cats will go back into heat within weeks after giving birth.
I hope you take some time to find loving homes for the kittens. Give momma a break, she is so overwhelmed at this point. If she is only a year old, she isn't even fully grown yet, and she has already given birth and been a mother.

 

[carolina]

Is she eating enough? What kind of food and how much is she eating?

 

[breamarie]

How much does she weigh? I had a cat that had food allergies and food absorption issues. Despite having free access to her kibble, she was really thin and constantly ravenous. She, too, would get into the garbage and by the end of her life was eating things like gum and granola bars.

Are you free feeding her? If she had access to all the cat food that she wants, but she's still that ravenous, I'd take her to the vet.

 

[white cat lover]

Welcome to TCS!

I also was wondering the same things as the above posters - the more info you can give us the better we can help.

1) What is she eating? Brand? Adult or Kitten?
2) Has she been vet checked?
3) How much food does she get?

I'm wondering if she isn't getting the proper nutrients. While cat food is generally a complete diet, some foods aren't right for certain cats.

 

[dreamcity]

unfortunately she has not been to the vet yet. i am uh not very financially well off at the moment, but i have been looking into some free vet services in my area.
i feed her probably 3 -4 times a day. currently she is eating adult purina. wet food as well as kibbles. the kittens are also not 100% weaned as they are still here. i havent been able to find good homes for them yet ( i want to make sure they get the best homes possible) she is still very thin and despite how much she eats, she never seems to gain any weight. shes been eating the exact same food as she did when she was pregnant. i was feeding her more then, but thought once the pregnancy was over she wouldnt need so much.
do you think once the kittens are gone her aggression will ease?

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by dreamcity

. im convinced she knows what she is doing is wrong but chooses to do it anyway.
is this continued hormones? or a negative imprint due to her childhood?
im willing to try ANYTHING.
i cant live like this. i dread coming home.

No, she is not choosing to act this way. She sounds like she is starving. Do you free feed? If the kittens are still nursing she should still have access to food 24/7.

She may also have food anxiety, that may never go away, if she has been starved before. I don't always advocate for free feeding, but in this case I recommend putting a high quality dry food down for her to have access to all the time, and supplement with canned food twice a day.

And, as has already been said, to the vet definitely.

She is probably also full of parasites. She needs a prescription broad spectrum dewormer, either drontal or topical profender. You can get those from the vet also.

I'm glad you've come here for help, please don't give up on this poor girl, what a life she must have had so far.

With lots of patience and love and understanding, you will have yourself a lifetime of unconditional love and joy from her.

We can help.

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by dreamcity

unfortunately she has not been to the vet yet. i am uh not very financially well off at the moment, but i have been looking into some free vet services in my area.
i feed her probably 3 -4 times a day. currently she is eating adult purina. wet food as well as kibbles. the kittens are also not 100% weaned as they are still here. i havent been able to find good homes for them yet ( i want to make sure they get the best homes possible) she is still very thin and despite how much she eats, she never seems to gain any weight. shes been eating the exact same food as she did when she was pregnant. i was feeding her more then, but thought once the pregnancy was over she wouldnt need so much.
do you think once the kittens are gone her aggression will ease?

Sounds to me, your girl is starving.... You say you are willing to try anything? Start by feeding her more and appropriate food. She is breastfeeding and as so should be free fed good quality Kitten food 24x7, or a good quality all stages food - not regular adult food.
Since she is pretty skinny, just feed her wants she wants after the kittens are weaned - play by the ear until she has recovered her healthy weight. This girl has to eat, the poor thing...

 

[hissy]

Sounds to me like you need to put her in a room by herself so that the kittens don't sap her of any other nutrients. She probably also has a big load of worms and that does really need a vet especially if she is pencil thin. The over the counter wormers are never a good idea to give to any cat or kitten either unless a vet has told you to use them (and most vets won't) I know that so many people believe that cats do things out of spite, but that simply isn't true. She is feeding a need and if she does indeed have a large load in her, those parasites are taking everything she is eating and leaving her very little. Add to that kittens who might still be nursing on her, and she is starving for nutrients.

I would put her in a room by herself, get her to a vet if only just for some safe wormer and also be sure she doesn't have fleas. If she has fleas, she has tapes and they can also take nutrients from her as well. Her fleas need to be treated by a vet as well- it depends on her health how far he will go with her- but you do really need to see a vet.

 

[strange_wings]

Also, if she has roundworms (which is likely) her kittens will have them, too. All of them need to see a vet.

 

[addiebee]

Ditto on everything everyone has said here. As soon as you possibly can!!

• Vet
• Worming
• High quality kitten or all-life-stages food - free feed dry and wet 2x day like Otto said

Both the kittens AND the parasites are draining her dry.

What is available to you store-wise? Purina Cat Chow is junk, but if that is all you can afford right now, get her on the Kitten formula. You can also give her Kitten Milk Replacer- which is high in fat/protein, etc. Most lactating cats LOVE the stuff. Or even a little goat's milk... but NOT COW'S MILK!!!!

But you have got to get RID of the worms!!! I would say 100% that she has them.

 

[dreamcity]

congratulations! you were all 100% wrong. she does not have worms. she was on medication and nothing worked. there were no worms. and YES it is behavioural issues. she is NOT starving and has even taught herself how to open the fridge! get that. pretty impressive.
thanks for the help

 

[cococat]

Please don't be mad at people who tried to help you. At least they took the time to care and reply.
What a surprise to adopt a kitty and get many more. Good on you for taking care of everyone. First off I would go ahead and have her spayed for her health (physical and mental) after the kittens are weaned. Sounds like you are looking for good homes for them which is important. Glad that their fecals were clean. However, sometimes fecals can miss things. I would worm all of them just to make sure considering her rough background.
My own adult cat also has these behaviors and always has. She steals food, what cat eats salads and fresh fruits, she sure does any chance and as much as possible. She does anything she can to get to food. She is a chow hound piggie. I coudn't free feed her because she got as big as a house and kept stealing food too. I had to change my whole way of keeping food out. Everything goes in a food pantry. No bread can be left out ever. No anything actually, even just to run to the bathroom. Dishes must be washed right after fixing food. If we are entertaining with food the cat has go in a room. She simply cannot be trusted at all. She will steal massive amounts of food off plates or off the counters despite not being able to be up there.
Sure, it is annoying but it is part of having an animal like a cat living in the house. I am not perfect and neither is my cat.
You should probably invest in child locks for the cabinets. And tie the fridge together or put something heavy in front.

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by dreamcity

congratulations! you were all 100% wrong. she does not have worms. she was on medication and nothing worked. there were no worms. and YES it is behavioural issues. she is NOT starving and has even taught herself how to open the fridge! get that. pretty impressive.
thanks for the help

Kind of rude and unnecessary dontcha think?
By the way... I see no mention of you saying that you actually tested her for parasites, just that the medication didn't work - Did you Actually test her for parasites? Did you take her to the vet and test her? On previous posts, you said you were not financially able to do that, and was going to use OTC medication... Many times it can take several rounds of prescription meds to get rid of parasites, let alone OTC meds... So again, did you actually test her, or you just gave her meds, and it didn't work, so you are assuming it is behavioral?

 

[rad65]

Originally Posted by dreamcity

congratulations! you were all 100% wrong. she does not have worms. she was on medication and nothing worked. there were no worms. and YES it is behavioural issues. she is NOT starving and has even taught herself how to open the fridge! get that. pretty impressive.
thanks for the help

Wow, hopefully this is your last topic if this is how you act when people offer you good advice. None of us are vets, we can only advise based on the information given, which was that your cat was really skinny yet also ate a ton of food.You yell at people for "getting it wrong", but all you did about this issue was go to an online message board and ask. I'm wondering why you asked at all since you have to be a vet yourself to distinguish between worms (OTC meds might not work, or might take a really long time) and behavioral issues?

Originally Posted by dreamcity

she is still very thin and despite how much she eats, she never seems to gain any weight.

Yeah, that really sounds like a cat who is only eating this food to piss you off

. If it were just to spite you, she would be really fat since spite doesn't keep her from gaining weight (worms do, but since you're the vet you KNOW that can't be the problem)

 

[maxiecat03]

Wow...wonder if Dreamcity treats everyone like this when she/he 'desperately needs help'?

I feel sorry for the cat and kittens....please leave while you can.....your human doesn't sound too kind/patient/appreciative or respectful especially when so many tried to help....and he/she showed rudeness instead of appreciation.

I'm glad that Dreamcity is in the minority. Most coming to these boards are so thankful for offers of help and experience.

 

[otto]

Poor kitty. Forced to starve and try to feed herself from the fridge because you are too stubborn to take her to the vet for proper treatment.

 

[maxiecat03]

Originally Posted by otto

Poor kitty. Forced to starve and try to feed herself from the fridge because you are too stubborn to take her to the vet for proper treatment.

Smart cat, too. Knows where the food is, and knows how to get at it. Hopefully the human sleeps alot and smart cat can eat as much as she needs. Hopefully she gets more to eat than the parasites. Too bad smart cat couldn't get herself to the Vet for a proper diagnosis.